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Demand drives needle exchange need

An outreach group says increasing demand from Bunbury drug users has led it to open the region's first permanent needle and syringe exchange.

The exchange, which provides sterile needles and syringes to people who inject drugs, was officially opened by the WA Substance Users Association in Bunbury this week.

The association says the facility was established after its mobile van handed out more than 200,000 clean needles in the region over the past year.

The association's Paul Dessaur says the permanent set-up has made it easier for more people to access the facility.

"More than 33 per cent of the people who visited the site in the last two weeks are actually new to the service," he said.

"They are people who live in the south-west area, who are using and injecting drugs but who haven't been accessing the needle exchange in the past because it was a van."

Mr Dessaur says the exchange program has played a critical role in preventing the spread of blood-borne viruses in Australia.

"In Australia, for instance, the rate of HIV amongst injecting drug users is less than 1 per cent and that is unheard of, and it's purely because we introduced these programs way back in 1986," he said.